“The surgery was a success. They did a hysterectomy and a bilateral…” she stopped talking and looked at Ebru.
“It’s a complicated one. A bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy,” Ebru finished for her. Had she grown two heads?
“You’re yanking my crank! There’s no way that that’s an actual medical thing.”
“It is,” she was grinning at me in that ‘aww look at the window licker’ way. I knew it well, my family had been doing it all my life.
“What the fuck is that?” It came out before I could catch it and I winced and looked at Finn. “Sorry.”
“I don’t know why you’re apologizing to him,” Enya snorted. “That asshole uses the f-word like it’s and or the.”
We all burst out laughing and then got back to the oopherpotomy or whatever the shit it was called. “It’s a full uterus removal along with the removal of both fallopian tubes,” Ebru explained, and I felt my stomach twist.
“And you survived that?” Maybe it was dumb question seeing as she was sitting in front of me, but it sounded impossible.
Laughing and nodding, Enya adjusted her position in the chair slightly and then lifted the blankets over her arms. It was fucking roasting outside and she was acting like we were in arctic conditions.
“The surgeon said that they’d removed all of the tumor and that it was definitely only stage two, so we caught it before it spread. The chemo has been hard, though. It makes you feel like you’ve just climbed Everest even going to the bathroom. I have two more sessions to go, but the doctor sounded really positive about it all. It’s just…” she looked at Finn, close to tears, “Hard.”
Her and Ebru started talking about side effects, what to do and what not to do, so I relaxed back in the couch again. I was going to let Ebru lead this and follow behind, unless she needed me to take over. I doubted that she would, though.
Being in the house, surrounded by photos of Ebru and Louise, made the news that we’d got this week hit harder. She’d gone to a cardiologist who had done a forty-eight-hour trace of her heart and some other tests and had gotten the all clear. We had things that we were to look out for, but she’d had her heart monitored while she ran on a treadmill, as well as the trace, and the specialist couldn’t find any issues. It had been the best news that we could have hoped for. I know that she had been terrified of finding out if she had it, but she’d said that at least if she got a diagnosis that she could start the medication that she needed. I’m not ashamed to say that I cried when we got the results. Ebru’s heart was perfect.
Almost like she was reading my mind, Ebru told her parents the news.
“I went to see a cardiologist,” she stood up and went over to a photo of her and Louise laughing on some swings. They must have been in their teens and the happiness that you could see on their faces, regardless of their upbringing, was beautiful. “He did tests to see if I had an arrhythmia problem like Lou’s.”
Her dad stood up out of his chair and walked over to Enya and held her hand. They looked terrified and it was obvious that they may have been shitty parents to their girls, but they definitely loved them.
“And?” Enya had tears forming in her eyes and looked a bit paler than she had before, if that was even possible.
“I got the all clear.” Their bodies sagged with relief when they realized what that meant.
“Thank the Goddess,” Enya said. I’d never heard them use any true references to their Pagan beliefs before. Quite frankly, I thought that after what had happened to their daughters that they’d turned their backs on it.
Looking over at me from her position next to the side table beside the door to the living room, Ebru shrugged her shoulders and gave me a wry smile. I guess don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.
The following morning, we decided to go and visit Louise, but I insisted on driving this time because I had a surprise for Louise and the baby boy whose grave I couldn’t get out of my mind.
We were just walking up to Louise’s grave when I remembered something that I’d been meaning to ask Eb for a while. Reaching out to take her hand, I pulled her gently to a stop before we got there.
“I need to ask you something.”
She looked at me and tilted her head. “Here?”
Nodding, I looked around us and focused on Lou’s headstone not far away from us. “When we have kids can we get them tested?”
Ebru was silent for a moment before she said, “I didn’t want to insult you, but I kinda kept the number of that doctor that does the,” she started doing the circle beside her head in the universal symbol for crazy.
“What? Why?” Oh shit, did insanity run in her family?
“Well Cole, you’re kind of…unique,” I nodded because I’d been told that before. “And special.” I had a feeling that I was missing something here by the way that she kept stressing words as she described all of my strengths.
“Listen, I’m flattered, but there’s no need to list all of my good qualities and put me on a pedestal. I’m being serious asking you this.”
She looked at me and blinked slowly a couple of times. “Cole, I was implying that you’re a bit of a…well you’re,” she looked around as if she was looking for inspiration. Spinning back around to look at me, she said, “You know your grandad?”
Now I was starting to worry that the insanity that was obviously in her family had hit her unexpectedly because, of course, I knew my grandad. I was relieved that she had the number of a doctor because as soon we left here, I was driving home and getting her seen. It had to be fixable.
“Stop looking at me like that. I’m saying your grandad is nuts and you take after him. In fact, I’m not convinced any of your family is sane or normal in any way.”
I didn’t know what to say to her, so I just stood trying to process what she’d said. Was this that ‘projection’ thing that I always heard being discussed on that daytime television show where a psychologist helps people?
“Okay,” I said slowly. “If you say so.” I would support her no matter what. “Don’t worry. In this day and age, I’m sure it can be cured.”
“What’s happening here?” she asked, looking around the place.
“I was saying that I wanted our kids tested for the heart condition, but now I’m taking us straight home after we leave here and calling that doctor to get you tested.”
“I already got tested though? And the doctor said I was just fine.”
“When did you do that?” Fuck me, what a relief.
“Cole, you were there for the results, babe.”
Something wasn’t adding up here. “When was this?”
“Last week.” She looked so worried and it dawned on me what she meant.
“Oh, you mean your heart! I was talking about your mental issue. So did you get that tested too?”
She looked at me like I’d grown two heads, before sneering at me and walking towards Lou’s grave. I left her to spend time with her sister while I walked back to the car to get the surprises that I’d hidden when we were packing it up for our journey here.
As I walked back towards her, I wondered if the surprise would go down well or if she’d be pissed. Welp, only one way to find out.
Kneeling down beside her, I pulled the statue for Louise’s grave out of the bag and put it beside her headstone. Eb was quiet for a long moment before she burst out laughing and fell over on her side.
“That’s awe…awesome,” she got out through the laughs. I felt quite proud of myself at that moment, I’m not gonna lie. I’d found the statue on the internet and it was perfect. It was a sumo wrestler with a blue thong thing on and he was crouched over. The best part was, it wasn’t a cartoon looking one; this one was life like.
“I thought you’d like this, Lou,” I pushed a dead flower off her grave that had fallen from the vase that was filled with fresh flowers. “I’ll leave you girls to it.” I had one more person that I wanted to see today, and he wasn’t too far away from us.
Walki
ng over to little Lyall’s grave, I stopped and stared down at it and wondered what he’d looked like. How big was his coffin? I’d never seen a baby’s one before, but I imagined that they would be tiny. There was something about this little boy’s story that wouldn’t leave my mind. I’d be willing to bet that he was absolutely precious.
Before I started bawling like a wimp, I knelt down and cleared away some leaves and grass cuttings from his grave, making sure that it was perfect.
“Hey bud,” I started. I felt stupid talking to a baby that I hadn’t known, but it was important to me that he knew that he wasn’t alone. “So, I know that Louise will be looking after you and that she’ll make sure that you’re okay, but no little boy should be without one of these.” I opened the bag and pulled out the intricately made teddy bear statue that I’d bought. Again, it was almost life like and had a real satin bow in baby blue around its neck. “I hope you like him, he’s all yours. Maybe when you’re old enough, you and Louise can have a sumo teddy war?”
I heard the sound of sobs behind me and saw Ebru standing with a couple that I didn’t recognize, but given how they were looking at me, I figured that they were this beautiful little man’s parents.
I stood and brushed my hands off on my pants. I was finally getting to meet the parents of the most amazing little boy the world had ever had the fortune of creating. Well, as well as Kali.
This was one of the biggest honors of my life.
Ebru
We’d just left the graveyard after spending time getting to know Lyall’s parents. Cole had shocked me with the statue for Lou and I’d taken a photo to show my parents. I’d just walked over to see what Cole was up to when I heard him talking to the baby. Lyall’s parents had walked up behind me looking confused until we saw him place the teddy bear statue on the grave and explain what it was for. Yet again, it hit home how amazing my man was.
“Just so you know,” he said, driving down the road. “I’m putting a sofa bed in the nursery when we have babies.”
It might sound paranoid to some, but to me it made sense having seen the result of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. “You know, you can get these mat’s that the baby lies on top of that has sensors in it. If they stop moving, an alarm goes off. Obviously, it has it’s faults and isn’t one hundred percent effective, but they’re very popular with new parents.”
He was on the same page as me on this one because he nodded and said, “An alarm mat and a sofa bed. I think I like that idea.”
“We’ll be okay,” I reached over and grabbed the hand that was resting on his thigh. It usually bugged me that he drove one-handed, but then at times like this, it was convenient.
Squeezing my hand, he flashed a quick smile at me. “Always.”
Cole
Three months later…
It had taken longer than I’d thought it would to organize the court case against the girls responsible for stabbing Ebru, and against the father who had been the District Attorney. Because of the amount of time that had passed, finding witnesses like the teacher who had found Ebru and other teachers who may have seen things had been tricky. We’d done it in the end, though.
Nine other women had come forward as victims of these bitches once word had gotten out that they were being charged and tried for what they had done to Eb. There was one woman, Daisy, who had been blinded in one eye by them. You’d never guess it because her eye looked perfect, but she’d been hit on the side of the head so hard by one of them that it had affected her optic nerve and now the vision was ninety percent gone. The other women had also been through traumatic events with the psychotic bitches in question, but hadn’t received the same level of violence as Eb and Daisy. The interesting moment had been when my family and the Montgomerys had arrived and Baz had been introduced to her. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her throughout it.
It turns out that these whores had been responsible for inflicting years of terror on people and the father had gone around dishing out threats like they were Halloween candy. Ironically, he was already serving out a prison sentence for his penchant for young kids, so he would be receiving an extra sentence on top of it for his part in the case.
Listening to the women give their testimonies and describing what they’d been through was nauseating, but the truly painful thing had been when Ebru’s Dad took to the stand. He’d been sobbing and kept repeating over and over that he’d never forgive himself for not fighting for justice for his daughter. He seemed to be of the belief that if he had, that he could have saved the other victims as well as the little boys and girls that had also been victims, regardless of whether they chose to do what they did or not. Ebru had been crying beside me and when he’d come off of the stand, she’d walked up to him and for the first time, I saw her relax as she hugged him. I was going to talk to Eb about getting him some counseling because I worried about all of the guilt and what it was doing to him.
Her mother had also given a statement, but hers had been brief and then one of Coleman’s men had driven her home and was standing guard in case she needed anything. She’d finished her chemotherapy, but it had left her so weak and fragile that I worried that a gust of wind would send her flying.
The trial went on for four days, and in the end, the girl responsible for stabbing Eb got thirteen years in prison and her accomplices got eight years each. Her father, the lucky fucker, got an extended stay in his cell and was sentenced to a further seven years on top of the fifteen he was already serving. When that judgment had been given, he’d stood up and started yelling and screaming until they led him away. The bitches had been doing the same as they got lead away, but I had zero pity for any of them. They more than deserved what they got.
The judge had also awarded damages to the victims, but as the two who had been hurt the most, Daisy and Ebru got the largest settlements. They had become quite close in the run-up to the case, and stayed in touch afterward.
It was about two weeks after the end of the trial that Ebru came home one day and excitedly told me that she and Daisy were using their compensation to buy a home for kids who ran away from home, or had other issues that might lead to them turning to prostitution. Daisy would run it day to day and Ebru would help out as often as she could as well as providing medical assistance when required. They’d already found a property that was perfect for it and were in the process of buying it.
She’d told me last night that she felt like a weight had been taken off of her shoulders and that she was relieved that she’d gone through with the case. As she’d been telling me this it had suddenly hit me…I was going to take my girl on holiday. Somewhere beautiful, somewhere different, somewhere far away with just the two of us.
I had plans to make.
Chapter 20
Brett
I ’d been in Houston for a week now looking after Sabine while she recovered. Whatever chemical had been used in the explosion and fire at the office, had left her with chest problems. She had been prescribed medications and had a nebulizer to use when it got too bad, and the doctors seemed to think that it would resolve itself and that she’d only have to use inhalers.
Apparently, when I’d been home after Gram’s accident, Sabine had become ill with bronchitis. She’d called in sick to the office, but Jerry Grantsen had insisted that she come in and threatened her job. The elevator in her apartment building had been out of order, so she’d had to take the stairs. Half way down, she’d had a coughing fit and had become out of breath, lost her balance and had then fallen down a flight of stairs. I kept thinking of what the resident who’d found her had said about when he’d found her and how she’d begged him for help. She hadn’t been able to move with the pain in her leg and had been yelling for someone to help her; a whole fucking hour she’d been there yelling for someone. Every time I thought of her in that much pain and all alone, I wanted to punch myself for ever leaving her in the first place. I should have taken her home with me.
I was down on her paperwork as a contact beca
use her family lived where she was from in France, so she was in the States on her own. After the fire and the subsequent problems with her chest, I’d insisted that she add me as a contact and, fuck me, was I glad that I had. When they’d called and said that she’d had an accident, I felt sick thinking that the bastard had gotten to her. Instead, they told me that she was being taken into surgery after falling and rupturing her ACL in her right leg as well as some other tendon ligament thing. I stopped listening after I heard surgery and ACL and was just focused on getting to her as quickly as possible. When I’d arrived, she’d still been in surgery, but not long afterward the surgeon had come out to say that it had all gone well and that she was in recovery. They’d taken a graft from her hamstring, so she not only had a wound on her knee but on the back of her leg as well and the pain had been hell for her.
She had another week before she could start putting a little bit of weight on it, but she was struggling with the crutches, so I carried her wherever she needed to be.
On the helicopter journey back to Houston, I’d started to focus on my feelings for Sabine. As in truly focus on them. I’d met her when I was attending a conference in the UK to discuss oil reserves in the North Sea, she’d been attending for another company. I’d noticed her immediately and Jesus was she was gorgeous. I’d heard her discussing the finer points of the issue at hand soon after that, and realized that I needed her in my company. On the second day, I met with her and made her an offer that she couldn’t refuse and had moved her to the US. Nothing had happened between us apart from a few kisses, so far, and it fucking shocked the shit out of me that I was actually okay with that.
It was 5AM and I was lying in bed watching her sleep. I woke up every hour to make sure that she wasn’t in too much pain and that her leg was up on pillows. Looking down at her long silky black hair falling across the pillow behind her, I gave in and reached out to touch it and wind some around my fingers. I thought back to not long ago when I’d been in the bar and had seen Trinny and the thoughts that had gone through my head, and I hated myself for even thinking for a second that I could touch anyone that wasn’t Sabine. I know I wouldn’t have gone through with it, but I’d thought it and that was bad enough for me.
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